Illinois Civil War Muster and
Descriptive Rolls Database:
Clark, Henry - Pvt - Co
C - 64 IL US INF
Residence, Joliet, Will Co, IL; Join,
23Oct1861-Joliet (mustered in 16Dec1861, Camp Butler); Age, 26; Born,
Vanrensselaer Co, NY
Height, 5' 7-1/2"; Hair, auburn;
Eyes, blue; Complexion, light; Single; Law Student
Clark, Henry S. - SGM - HQ - 64
IL US INF
Residence, Lockport, Will Co, IL; Join,
23Oct1861-Lockport (mustered in 31Dec1861, Camp Butler); Age, 22; Born,
Rensselaer Co, NY
Height, 5' 7-1/2"; Hair, auburn; Eyes,
gray; Complexion, light; Married; Student
Returned to Co E
Clark, Henry S. - Pvt - Co E - 64
IL US INF
Residence, Lockport, Will Co, IL; Join,
23Oct1861; Age 22; Born, Rensselaer Co, NY
Height, 5' 7-1/2"; Hair, auburn;
Eyes, blue; Complexion, light; Married; Law Student
Appointed Sergeant Major Dec 31, 1861.
Returned to Co 1 Sgt killed in
battle 4Oct1862 at Corinth, Miss
Headstone Reading,
Will County Illinois USGenWeb
Necrologist Reports (© 2002
The ILGenWeb Project All Rights
Reserved):
Published Obituaries:
Additional Biographical Material:
Fifteen Years
Ago: or the Patriotism of Will County
George H. Woodruff
Sergeant Henry S. Clark was
another young student who laid aside Chitty and Blackstone, and took up
the
musket at the call of his country, and was also called to lay down his
life. He was the only son of Henry M.
Clark, of Lockport, and was born at Steventown, New York, on the 12th
day of
February 1839, and was therefore but twenty-two years of age at the
time of his
enlistment in Co. E, of the Yates Sharp Shooters, afterwards known as
the
Sixty-Fourth regiment. He had received a
classical education at M’Granville College, in the State of New York, and
subsequently entered the office of E.
C. Fellows, Esq., of Lockport, for the study of law. He had
nearly completed his legal course at the time of his enlistment. He was an only son, the hope and stay of
doting parents, and the pride of loving sisters – the life of the
little family
circle which used to gather in such happy union in one of the modest
homes of Lockport. But
strong and silken as were the ties which bound him to that home, the
call of
the country was so imperative upon her sons, that he could not resist,
and in
October of 1861, a month after his fellow-student, Walker, had joined
the 39th,
young Clark joined the company of Captain
Grover. Going
with his company to Springfield, where the organization of the battalion
was completed, he received the same appointment in the “Yates Sharp
Shooters”
which Walker had received in the “Yates Phalanx.” But
for his early death, his military record
would have also been like that of his fellow student, in his being
promoted
adjutant.
He proved a most useful
officer of the company. Having studied tactics, and practiced drill, he
was to
some extent qualified for the duties of his new position.
But it was the fate of young Clark, to close his career sooner than did Walker.
He
followed the fortunes of the 64th until the battle of Corinth, on the second
day of which he fell,
receiving a mortal wound in the bowels which he survived but a few
hours. His death occurred but a few days
short of
one year after his enlistment. He had
visited his home in August, gladdening the hearts of his friends, and
gratifying
his own warm and impulsive affections with the sight of home, parents,
sisters
and friends, for the last time.
When wounded, he knew at
once that it was mortal. The enemy were
driving our forces at the time, and soon had possession of the ground.
Feeling
that his life was fast ebbing away, he took from his pocket an
envelope, and on
it wrote these words: “Dear
father and mother and sisters, I am dying and a prisoner, my last
thoughts are of you. H.S.
Clark.”
His failing strength hardly
sufficed to write his name legibly, and as may be conjectured, the
brief words
were not written in his usually fine chirography; - but the loved ones
to whom
it was addressed, could read the message but too well, and their busy
fancy
would picture the dear boy as he lay dying upon the bloody field of
battle, and
of victory – though he knew it not, - having spent his last modicum of
physical
strength in writing this tender message, taking a last look at earth
and sky,
and then without a murmur, yielding up his life for his country, to him
who
gave it. This soiled and blood-stained
envelope, being the last message of the young hero, was carefully
preserved by
the rebel sergeant to whom he gave it, and who, being himself taken
prisoner a
little after, gave it into the hands of a lieutenant in a Wisconsin
regiment,
who transmitted it to his friends, who still preserve it as a most
precious
relic. A few days after, Rev. Joel
Grant, of Lockport, who was at Corinth, as chaplain of the 12th Illinois regiment,
wrote this to the afflicted
father:
“H.S. Clark – Dear Sir: -
Your son rests – not only as a soldier, but I think also as a Christian. I have had several conversations with him
during the past summer, in which he expressed a state of mind which
interested
me greatly. He admitted himself more
thoughtful of spiritual matters since he came into the army – not less
so – as
is usually the case. He lived three
hours after his wound, nearly all the time fully conscious that he
could not
live. Yet he contemplated his future
calmly – spent much time in prayer – and I have no doubt found the
mercy he
needed.”
To this I would add that a
perusal of Sergeant Clark’s letters to his family, has given the writer
a high
estimate of his moral, social and intellectual qualities, and led him
to feel
that in his early death, our county lost one of its most valuable young
men. To his intelligent letters I have
been partly indebted for the history of the 64th, in the first year of
its
career.